Knock-Knock!

During Prohibition in the 1930s, if you wanted to get into a speakeasy, you would knock on the door, someone would ask, “Who’s there?” and you’d have to say a password. According to joke historian Charlie Orr, drunken patrons often had fun with the password custom as the night wore on, and that’s how the knock-knock jokewas born. Orr claimed that the very first knock-knock joke was told in the restroom of a Philadelphia hotel. The first guy said, “Knock-knock.” His friend replied, “Who’s there?” “Ranger.” “Ranger who?” “Ranger clothes before you leave here!”